Blind Loyalty
by thephaw
Summary: My name is Naruto and I'm struggling for redemption. But fighting for my country isn't enough anymore. No, I needed something else. I needed someone, ANYONE, for whom I could gladly risk my life. But I never thought that kind of person could be my enemy.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **I originally planned this as the sequel to Broken Whispers, my previous FMP/Naruto crossover. But then it turned into a different beast altogether. So here it is, a brand new story, not that I'm abanding my other story. I just had to get this one out.

**Disclaimer: **Blah, blah, blah, I own nothing so please don't sue me.

**Note: **I'm new at writing in first person, sorry if it seems awkward in some places.

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**. : Now and Fragments of Then : .**

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I felt it.

Something small had pelted my head. It sort of hurt. But not nearly enough for me to give a damn. So I ignored it and continued to try to fall asleep. It took a lot of effort, after all, to find a comfortable position at the desk I was sitting in. And no way was I about to jeopardize that. Not unless…

"Naruto!" fumed a voice not too far away. It was Kagurazaka sensei, the homeroom teacher. At least I think it was. My head was still down and my eyes were shut so her voice was all I could go by.

In any case, I considered the fact that she said 'Naruto' but only briefly. I reasoned that she was probably just going on about the nutritional value of certain ramen ingredients or something. Besides, even if she _was_ referring to a person, in a world of billions of people there had to be another person named Naruto out there somewhere, right? She was probably talking about that person. She couldn't possibly be trying to—

"Naruto Uzumaki!" she said, louder and angrier this time.

Well damn, there was no denying it now. That's me, alright. Naruto Uzumaki: freshman of Jindai High School, but not exactly by choice. I was forced into attending this school. In fact, I might even go as far as to say that I hate it. If sensei were to hand out an assignment right now, I could see myself pursuing every effort to come up with an elaborate and convincing excuse to avoid the assignment which, in all honesty, would probably take a lot more effort than just actually doing the assignment. Some would call this stupidity. I just think it's me standing up for my values regarding high school… or in this case, lack thereof.

"Naruto! Wake up," demanded Kagurazaka sensei.

Letting go a silent yawn, I finally obliged and looked up. Kagurazaka-sensei glared at me. And so did everyone else in the small classroom, not that I cared.

But I sucked it up, struggled to find just the right expression and followed through with a simple "Sorry."

It seemed to work. The other students were a mix of relief and annoyance as they turned back towards the blackboard. Even Kagurazaka-sensei seemed pleased. But that was probably only because I had given her such a hard time the week before. A tired apology from me today must have seemed like a miracle when only a few days ago, I had fought back tooth and nail against her. In fact, even now I kind of felt the urge to talk back so I could continue sleeping. But I resisted because the appointed class rep had talked me into behaving.

"Hey, didn't we agree that you wouldn't sleep in class?" whispered the girl who sat next to me. Chidori Kaname. Speak of the devil.

I blinked at her, waiting for the teacher to turn her back towards us before responding. "No…" I replied matter-of-factly. "We agreed that I would behave in class. It's not like I got into another fight with the teacher. All I did was rest my eyes a little. And what's wrong with that?" To me, this seemed perfectly logical. I just wanted to get some rest.

But it looked like Chidori wouldn't have it. She sent daggers at me with her furrowed eyes. "The _problem_ is that you're disrupting our class."

"It's not my fault." I argue back. "If everyone just ignored me like I thought they would, class would've continued like normal. Besides, it's not like I'm learning anything new here anyways."

Chidori palmed her forehead in frustration. "Then why bother showing up to school at all?"

I tried to come up with a reply for that. But my mind drew blanks. Her point was valid. Why show up to class if you didn't need to? Well, the problem here was that I _did_ need to be in class. I just wasn't here to learn anything. But I couldn't tell her that. Chidori must have sensed my moment of weakness, because she pressed on.

"Well?" she asked. "If you're already so smart? Why show up to class at all?"

Awkwardly, I looked away from her and shrugged, letting her win this battle. Besides, there was no doubt in my mind that there would be more to come. I wasn't sure why, but we were naturally abrasive towards each other.

I waited until our Japanese literacy class was well under way before I pulled out my mission files and leafed through them. They were top-secret files that I had cunningly (or lazily, depending on how you looked at it) disguised as harmless school work.

The first line on the first page said it all: Objective - Observe Chidori Kaname.

This was only the first phase of the mission, of course. Operation Chidori, it was called. The organization that sent me here, Amalgam, had reason to suspect that Chidori was a person with some kind of special ability. They had a codename for people with special abilities like she was believed to have. They were called the Whispered. But, as expected, the higher ups believed that I didn't need to know what that meant.

So instead of searching for clues as to whether or not she had the abilities of a whispered, whatever they were, I'm just to report on absolutely everything about her. It was a pain, really. But it wasn't like I had any choice in the matter.

I pulled out an everyday ruled notebook and flipped through it until I reached the page with my notes on Chidori. They were extremely detailed with every type of information imaginable. There was probably a little too much detail so I decided to write a quick summary of the information I had gathered so far to help keep me focused on the mission.

It read:

Chidori Kaname is sixteen years old, female, and has long blue hair and brown eyes. She is of average height and her build is lean and athletic. Her exact measurements are still a work in progress. She is highly attractive, both physically and emotionally. Her personality exudes confidence and as such, she is very social and seems to genuinely care about others. However, there is also a stubborn side to her. She is often extremely blunt and easily angered, sometimes resorting to violence when things don't go her way. Intelligence wise she is sharp, smart and seems to breeze through high school math and sciences as though they're elementary level.

I stopped writing and I reread what I had so far, like all this information was a big surprise. There was nothing unusual about her at all. She was just like an ordinary high school girl, if not exceptional in some areas. If she really was a Whispered, then these Whispered must be some really boring special people. I was a little annoyed that the people in charge of the mission refused to brief me on specific traits to look out for. So all I could do was hope that at least some of this information would be useful to them. If not, this would've all been a huge waste of my time. Oh well, a mission is a mission I suppose. No sense complaining about it now.

When lunch hour had nearly arrived, I reached for my bag and quietly began shoving my barely used books into it. I wasn't exactly the patient type and I wanted to be out of the class by the time the lunch bell called.

Chidori glared at me. I swore I could somehow feel her anger permeating as she spoke up on the teacher's behalf. "There's still fifteen minutes left," she oh-so-kindly informed me. What she did next was a little unexpected. She reached over the gap between our desks and grabbed hold of one of the books I was about to put away, stopping me in my tracks.

"It pays to be prepared," I retort, trying to free the book from her inhuman grip. Just another tidbit of information I'd have to add into my notes later.

"Why can't you just wait until the bell rings," she insisted.

"Why should I?" I asked, clearly getting annoyed.

"It's about showing your teachers some respect," she said.

I supposed that made sense. But I didn't care and continued in vain to pry the book from her grip. I considered this: she was the type who would be just as stubborn as I was, if not even more so. So I use one of the tools taught to me by my latest mentor. I lied. "Fine," I say. "Just let go."

Her brown eyes told me of her reluctance, but she eventually released the book. _Sucker._

Defiantly, I dropped the book into my bag as Chidori watched helplessly, jaw dropping at my dirty tactic. I was sure she'd smack me if she were given the chance.

I had just finished giving her my evil victory grin when I felt the whole classroom distinctly shake, as if a giant hand had grabbed the place and yanked. Immediately I froze, bracing myself on the wall beside me, but nobody else seemed to even react. Chidori's expression turned from pure anger to worry as she looked at me.

"Naruto?"

And then, all hell broke loose. The floors bucked, walls undulated, cracks ripped through plaster, and the air exploded with the sounds of glass crashing, things falling, and timbers snapping. I fell to the floor, trying to brace myself against the wall with both hands.

"Naruto!" yelled Chidori. "Naruto, calm down. Someone help. Something's wrong with Naruto."

I didn't quite get what she was saying. There was nothing wrong with me, the entire building was collapsing. Right? Everything spun now, zig-zagging forward and backward and side-to-side. I felt like throwing up so I closed my eyes, hoping the feeling would go away. It didn't. Instead, I felt even more things tug at my body. My arms and legs were held in place and I could hear the yelling and shouting from the students and Kagurazaka sensei. And screams. I could distinctly hear screams from… I didn't know who they were from.

In any case, I had no idea what was happening. And just when I felt like something even bigger was about to happen, everything turned black.

-x-

Someone told me once that carelessness can be a deadly trait to develop. It can cloud your mind. And when that happens, the world you once knew would cease to exist. Because then you start to forget things.

Time trickles away until everything becomes vague and unclear.

The places you've been before become unrecognizable.

And the people around you disappear and change until nothing is familiar anymore. Not even yourself.

A young girl with shoulder length black hair and the most beautiful ivory eyes protests loudly, as tears fall down her cheeks.

_Why did you do it, Naruto?_

Her stance told me that she was on the offensive. Her palms open, ready to strike me at any time with undoubtedly deadly precision. Her serene look was one of disappointment and sadness.

She wasn't alone. Surrounding me were others. And almost all their faces were somehow vaguely familiar, though I couldn't quite place who they were. But one thing was obvious. They were all prepared to strike me down.

_You brought this on yourself, Naruto. You can't be forgiven. _

Except for the girl, they all rush towards me, killing intent etched in their eyes.

But before they hit, everything spirals into darkness and a new location reveals itself.

Here, I run.

I run until I trip and crash my shoulder into a nearby tree. All around me are hundreds of other trees, rising so menacingly high from ground that most of the sunlight fails to reach me.

A fox kit peeks out from its burrow. Cautious at first, it approaches, until finally it stops and growls. Then it speaks.

_You want to die, don't you? Or is it perhaps me that you wish would disappear? You should know by now that both… are impossible. _

Suddenly the fox grows larger, many more tails sprouting from its rear. The bright orange tails lash out at me, sinking into my head and heart, piercing skin, flesh, and bone. I can't even scream out in pain. The only sounds that escape my lips are a strange and wet gurgling.

And once again, it all spirals into darkness.

This time, the sky is dark. It's raining. Upon a bridge that runs over a river, a young girl I don't know, standing alone, completely still, appears before me.

Her head is bowed, eyes hidden underneath wet silver hair. She was crying.

_Stupid! Idiot! Moron!_

She looks up slowly, revealing her angry yet bright gunmetal gray eyes. Beautiful was one way to describe her. Devastated was the other.

_Leave,_ she whispers.

My heart clenches.

And everything fades into darkness for the final time.

Then finally there was radiance.

A burning light enters my eyes as I open them. It felt hard to breathe and I felt drenched in sweat. My entire body shook and shivered uncontrollably. I knew exactly what this feeling was. Withdraw. My body was demanding more. More of the addictive high-tech drug I had been using to suppress my memories up until now. I _needed_ more.

And I had to be quick or I'd black out again. Or worse, my past would all come painfully back to me.

It was a huge struggle to reach into the pockets of my pants but I managed to accomplish the feat. I pull out a syringe, pull off the cover as quickly as I could, and plunged the needle into my arm. The effect was near instantaneous. My entire body stopped shaking. My head cleared up. And I could breathe again. Finally I could relax. Everything was okay, for now.

Or so I thought. Finally, I took a look around. And there she was, staring wide eyed at me, hands covering her mouth in shock like I was some kind of monster. It was Chidori. And she had seen it all.

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**A/N: **Thanks for reading. I would appreciate any reviews you throw my way.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **You know, I don't if I should stick with the stylized appearances of the characters or not. For example, in the light-novels, Chidori is described as having normal black hair. But on the cover illustrations and anime she's got the whole blue-hair thing going. I guess it doesn't matter, Chidori is Chidori so everyone can just use their imagination. But what do you guys think?

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**. : APATHY : .**

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I guess most people would have tried to explain themselves if they were in my situation. But I knew better than 'most' people.

Simply put, I ran; jolted up from the stiff bed in the room and rushed out the infirmary door like my life depended on it. In a way, it did. The syringe gripped firmly in my hand had contained a relatively new drug called APATHY. It was a drug that forcibly repressed all painful memories but left the good ones intact. The result is a feeling of euphoria with a side effect of superiority. Because APATHY abusers can no longer remember anything bad about themselves, they tend to also believe they can do no wrong and that their life just so happens to be the best life in the world. It is highly—no dangerously—addictive.

And it's also illegal because APATHY abusers generally fall into two categories.

In one case, abusers will be so addicted to the euphoria that _any_ bad memory becomes physically and emotionally unbearable; so much so that if they run out of the drug, they often commit suicide. And not only that, people in this category tend to become useless to society because they're afraid to do anything but obsess over their nostalgic feel-good memories.

In the other case, the APATHY abusers can be reckless to the extent that they actually become a threat to the people around them. People in this category would always believe that they are right no matter the circumstances. They use their 'can-do-no-wrong' attitudes to justify crimes and think themselves gods or deranged leaders.

I belonged to the practically non-existent third category of APATHY users. Through a rigorous psychological training program, people like me learn to associate the horrible effects of the drug with good memories. So after we take the drug, we'll still remember how deadly the drug can be. And through sheer effort of will, we resist the feeling of euphoria. People like me aren't truly addicted. We only retake the drug to hold back the old memories when they resurface… or to suppress the physical side effects such as my fainting earlier.

However, addicted or not, just having the drug flow in my veins would be enough to put me in jail, or crack-house, for five to ten years, and that was being generous. More often than not, an APATHY user would be stuck in jail for life with no chance of parole. This was why I ran from Chidori. It was practically my only option.

Unfortunately, as I rushed down the mostly empty hallways, Chidori gave chase. _Shit._ But I should have known she would.

"Hey!" she called out. "Naruto, wait!"

_Like Hell. _I picked up my pace. And as I turned the corner, I almost crashed into another student. I recognized her in an instant. She had mousy brown hair tied into pigtails and wore dragonfly glasses. It was Tokiwa-san from my class.

"Whoa, watch it—" she started. I didn't bother to stop to listen to her complaint and only kept running even faster.

"Kyoko," I hear Chidori shout. "Don't let him get away."

And just like that I now had two angry girls chasing me through the Jindai High hallways. I ignored the onset of teachers and other students who popped out from their classes to reprimand us for running in the halls. The situation was dire. I wasn't running as fast as I should have been and the girls were starting to catch up.

Up ahead I spot my only chance of escape: an open window. Without thinking, I run up to the window and vault myself out. We were on the third floor.

The feeling of free falling was exhilarating. There was no fear, worry, or panic. It was good, the feeling of the wind brushing against my entire body. I was like flying. And when I landed, there was no pain, no snapping sound in my leg, no scrapes or cuts across my knees or hands as they slid across the concrete. It didn't feel like I was hurt at all. I mean how could I be? I was invincible.

Chidori and Tokiwa-san stood staring out at me in disbelief. I gave them the briefest smile, turned around, and ran off, not limping at all. I'll have to come back and explain myself, of course. Watching Chidori meant that being expelled from the school wasn't an option. But I had time. A good excuse should hit me sooner or later.

I could feel something warm, wet, and slippery in my hands and I casually take a look. Blood.

APATHY was potent indeed and I was probably in really bad shape right now, despite what I could feel. But strangely enough, I didn't really care.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **This is just a quick note on Xia Yu Lan and Xia Yu Fan, those two hot and borderline Lesbiancest twins introduced in Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid. Their personalities were a little too dark for my taste in the anime so for this story I've lightened them up quite a bit. My excuse? Naruto was introduced to their lives so he played a big role in influencing them. Plus, at this point in the timeline, they'd still be under Gauron's command and not with that deranged Gates guy yet.

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**. : Twin Comrades : .**

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I hadn't realized I had passed out again until I awoke, dazed, confused, and worried.

"You're awake," said a voice. "Good."

The familiar voice was like an instant remedy to my anxiety and I sat upright. I quickly realized that I was in my room within my own apartment. Standing over me, giving me a thorough look-over, was Xia Yu Lan, one my partners for 'Operation Chidori'. Like me and her twin sister, she also attended Jindai High School to keep an eye on Chidori, though we were all in different classes.

I scratch my blond hair, trying to remember what had happened. "I passed out?"

She nodded, shoulder-length dark-brown hair bobbing as she did. "About an hour ago," she said. "We noticed you leaving the school too early and so Nee-san went to investigate. She found you and dropped you off here then left to keep an eye on Chidori."

"Your condition was horrible," she added. "You had a broken femur in your left leg, your right wrist was dislocated, and both of your hands were badly scraped and bleeding profusely. Your knees looked pretty raw as well, I'm surprised you walked as far as you did in your condition." As she scanned each of my wounds with her crimson eyes, I noticed her gaze fall and linger directly on my nether-regions. Only then did I realize I was stark naked and completely exposed.

"H-hey," I stammered, reaching for a blanket to cover myself. "Couldn't you have left my underwear on at least?"

She shrugged and said, "You know our protocols, we have to be thorough."

She was right, of course. We were all expensive Amalgam personnel so it was our responsibility to take care of each other during the mission. If either her, or Yu Fan were to get seriously injured, it would be my duty to bring them home, strip them naked and, well, all of a sudden, I found myself hoping one of the twins would get hurt in a freak accident. "Kuso, I don't remember anything…"

"You took some APATHY, remember?" she said. "You know what it does."

"Thanks for patching me up," I quickly say, not wanting to dwell on my little drug habit. "I'll be fine now, why don't you head back to the school." I look around frantically for my clothes with little luck.

"School is already over," informed Yu Lan, passing me my boxers. Completely embarrassed, I snatched them from her. Kami, I'll never get used to living with these twins.

"Chidori should be home any second now and Nee-san went to buy groceries," she continued.

I glance over at the alarm clock. It was five.

Then I look out my window. Directly across the street was the apartment where Chidori lived. In fact, her window was in plain sight from my room. But her lights were still off. She should have been home by now.

Just then, our apartment intercom buzzed.

"I'll get it," offered Yu Lan. "It's probably those annoying salespeople again."

Finally, she left my room and I limped over to my closet to find some fresh clothes. My mind was buzzing now, trying to come with an excuse to use tomorrow for my sudden disappearance from the school. No, that was the easy part. The hard part would be explaining things to Chidori. There was no doubt whatsoever that she saw me plunge the needle full of APATHY into my arm. Plus I ran from her. How the hell would I explain that? I also had to keep in mind that it was best for me to stay as close to her as possible. It would be best if I could somehow become her friend… I grumbled to myself and decided that I'd figure something out after dinner.

Now fully dressed again with fresh clothes, I decided to help out Yu Lan with the salesperson problem. When we first moved in, she had snapped because an over-persistent salesman wouldn't take no for an answer. When he refused to stop buzzing the room, Yu Lan pulled out a gun on the poor guy. Of course, he ran away and I had to hunt him down afterward to make sure he would 'forget' everything that he saw. Wanting to avoid a repeat situation, I went down to the apartment entrance.

To my surprise, nobody was selling anything at the door. Instead, it was Chidori who was busy chatting with Yu Lan. At first, I hid back behind a wall, not wanting to be seen by her yet. But after a few more minutes, I managed to compose myself, and decided to wing it. I'm sure my brilliant mind would come up with something to explain everything to her.

I walked out casually towards the two of them, trying to act as nonchalant as possible. But when Chidori looked up at me, for some reason her face turned stark red. Before I even got to the two girls, Chidori had given a quick bow to Yu Lan and ran off towards her own apartment.

Shocked, I asked Yu Lan, "What happened?"

"Don't worry," she said. "I took care of everything."

"Huh? Took care of what?"

"I explained everything to her."

"Wait a minute," I demanded. "You didn't tell her about the APATHY did you?"

She scowled. "Of course not. I'm not as stupid as you."

I ignored the insult and pressed on. "What did you tell her?"

"I told her that I was your lover," she said, shrugging.

"WHAT!?"

"Well, girlfriend was the word I used but it's the perfect excuse, isn't it?"

"Are you an idiot?" I knew my mouth was probably hanging wide open in shock but I didn't care. I seriously hoped I misheard her or something so I asked her again as calmly as I could, stressing certain words to drive my disbelief across: "You _actually_ told _Chidori Kaname_ that we were _LOVERS_!?"

Yu Lan nodded. "I blamed your collapse in class on fatigue. And to explain that, I told her that we had non-stop animalistic sex all yesterday night—"

I nearly choked. "We had WHAT!?"

"—and that sometimes when you're around other attractive girls, your sexual urges become so strong that you need to inject yourself with a special prescription drug just to control it."

"Oh Kami—"

"But then she told me you ran away for some reason so I had to explain to her that because the drug isn't fast acting, you had to get away as quickly as possible or you would have forced yourself on her."

"I… wha… gaaaaaah!" My legs suddenly turned to rubber and I collapsed defeated onto my knees. My goal was stay as neutral in school as possible. If this rumor spread, this would definitely make me the enemy of all girls and the envy of all the guys. "Why me? That was all you said, right? Please tell me that was all."

"Umm…" she put her hand up to her chin in a thinking pose. "Oh yea. I also told her about Yu Fan and said that you were doing us both at the same time. But I think that was it. I'll tell Yu Fan later, she definitely won't mind playing the part. It's for the mission."

"Oh… great," I said in a dead tone.

"You should thank me. Because of my quick thinking, you're little drug screw-up is all covered. Gauron-sama would have been furious if he found out. But now we won't have to tell him. It's like nothing happened."

"Yeah… nothing at all."

"If rumors start to spread, remember to grope us at school to keep up the façade. Or at least break up with us publicly so people will think that we were a couple."

"You mean threesome…"

"Right, see? Now you're thinking."

Well, so much for getting close to Chidori and becoming her friend. I struggled to pull myself together.

"I see you're okay now, Naruto," said another voice. It wasn't Yu Lan or Chidori so I looked up. Standing there was Xia Yu Fan, balancing several grocery bags in her arms while glaring at Yu Lan and I. "What are you two doing down here? You two are supposed to be keeping a watch on Kaname."

"Sorry, Nee-san," said the younger sister. "Chidori was just here and we had to explain Naruto's mishap to her. I'll give you the details when we get back in the room. It involves you too."

Yu Fan nodded. She was probably only a few seconds or minutes older than her sister but seemed vastly more mature. Even in looks. Long dark hair cascaded past her shoulders and down her very full chest. Even her own crimson eyes were somehow darker and more experienced than Yu Lan's.

She motioned for me to follow and headed to the stairs with her sister in tow. I breathed a heavy drawn-out sigh before getting back on my feet and following them back up into our room. I noticed my leg was healing fast. The bone was probably already mended. Most people would have found that weird but not me. I know it had something with my long forgotten past but I was in no hurry to retread that path.

However, weird or not, I was still healing. At least I had that going for me. I'd need my wounds to be healed to cope with Chidori tomorrow. Knowing her, she would not ignore or avoid me like most girls would if they thought I was a sexual predator involved in a threesome with twins. No, not only is she the class rep, but she wasn't the type to ignore problems. And with what Yu Lan just told her, I'd be her biggest one yet.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Sorry, I have this annoying habit of sometimes releasing really short chapters. I also release super long chapters from time to time too so... not sure what's worse. In the end, it depends more on what's happening in the story than anything else.

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**Another Dream**

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"_Naruto-kun, wait," she pleaded. "I… I can't keep up."_

_I stopped running. I think a part of me wanted to tell her off right there. I wasn't my usual self, I guess, but I had excuses. I was tired, hurt, hungry, and now deeply annoyed. But when I looked over my shoulder at her, my other feelings couldn't help but shrink away to make room for a little compassion. _

_She was small girl and frail, clearly exhausted as she brushed away some silver strands of hair from her delicate face. Her gray eyes looked like they were locked in a perpetual state of worry, always darting left and right and trying to glimpse behind her as she hurried over to me. But whenever she looked at me, I would see fear there. She was scared of me._

_I didn't blame her. I'd be scared of me too. In fact, she kind of reminded me of myself and my sad life. I felt bad for her. _

_She caught me looking at her and her expression turned into one of confusion. _

_I was about to 'kindly' suggest that we pick up our pace but two soldiers appeared from behind a brush and beat me to it. "Stop right there," one of them demanded. "Hand the girl over."_

"_Run!" I yell._

_She did. Kind of. The girl was obviously not used to physical exertion of any sort let alone running. Almost expectedly, she tripped on something and fell face first onto the dirty ground. _

_One of the soldiers had caught up to her and reached down to pick her up. I suddenly became filled with a strange power and reacted on reflex, moving faster than I thought I could. The other soldier raised his gun and shot, most of the bullets missed. I dodged the rest, and when the distance between us was closed, I tore a hole through his chest with a swirling ball of energy that had magically appeared in the palm of my hand. _

_It worked. The soldier died faster than I could I pull my arm out of his heart. _

_The other soldier, now fearing for his life, dropped the girl and struggled to pull out his own weapon. I quickly lunged at him and slapped the gun out of his grasp, grabbed him with one hand at his collar, and shoved him against a nearby tree. _

"_Go," I warned him. It was simple, and with my furious expression, seemed to work well enough. The soldier turned tail and ran as soon as I let him go. No sense in killing when it wasn't needed. _

_But now, the strange energy that empowered me before suddenly vanished, leaving me feeling drained, completely. My legs turned to rubber soon after and I fell to the ground, trying to lean on a tree for support. _

_The girl was in clear view. She looked conflicted at first, but then came towards me. "W-what's wrong?" she asked, worried. _

_I felt sleep overtaking me fast, my eyelids were getting heavier and heavier. My body, already past it limits, needed rest. "Follow the path," I told her groggily, pointing in the general direction. "You'll be safe when you reach the camp. Go. Hurry."_

"_Go?" she asked. "But what about you?"_

"_No time," I said. "Just go."_

_By now, my eyes were already closed. Everything was dark except for my mental image of her. I felt her pull my head onto her lap and so I tried to protest. But she was so comfortable, and I was so tired. I wanted to tell her to just leave me there, to call out her name… what was it, again? I know she told me and it was on the cusp of my mind, wanting to spill over. It finally did. "Please," I said. "Tessa."_

"_No," she pleaded. "I can't leave you here like this. What if they find you? What's wrong? Let me help you. Naruto-kun? Say something! Don't sleep now, they're coming. What do I do? Wake up, Naruto-kun. Please. Wake up."_

-x-

She woke me up once again, that girl from my dreams, or was it my memories? I couldn't tell. The weird thing was that this time, I had her name. Before, she would just be that cute silver-haired girl. Even so, I knew. She was someone I should absolutely wipe from my mind.

It was too bad then, that I couldn't. Not by a long shot.

I look at the clock… perfect timing as always.

I tiredly got up, performed my morning rituals, and left for school.

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**A/N: **Pairings. Should I have any?


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **Really slow chapter this time. Mostly character introductions and build-up. It's still readable though, for the most part. =P

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**. : New Neighbors : .**

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Everything would be fine, I told myself. With a little pleading, begging and about a third of my salary, I had managed to convince the twins not to spread their fake story about us being lovers at school. So really, all I had to do was convince Chidori that _my_ fake story was true and that Yu Lan was just joking or something. Kami, I was starting to hate myself for having to resort to lying so much.

As I walked past the school gates towards the entrance, I felt the weight of my fellow student's eyes on me. This made me wonder if Chidori had already spread the story. My heart sunk and I assumed the worst. Thankfully, my military training at Amalgam held me firm under their stares and muffled murmurings. I tried to carry myself as normally as possible since I knew that even a hint of weakness might turn them against me. I was careful not to look proud or overconfident, either. Blending in was what I was hoping to accomplish, as Gauron had taught me, with an expressionless face.

Luckily for me, my anxiety was all for nothing. It turned out that the students didn't know anything at all.

The first thing I did was enter the main office and explained my collapse along with my sudden absence to the principal and my teachers. They questioned me, of course, since several people had seen me jump out from the third floor window, but I told them that such things were normal at my old school in Helmajistan and that I wasn't hurt at all. The fact that all my wounds had already healed helped me with the façade. Plus, with no way to contact my legal guardian (Gauron, on paper at least) the principal and teachers had no real choice but to let me go with a warning. They did, however, ban me from jumping out of any windows from now on, something I cheerily agreed to.

In the hallways, a few of the students approached me, asking how I was feeling. Others wanted to know whether or not Kyoko and Chidori really cornered me and threw me off the roof of the school. It was funny how the story had become exaggerated already. I fought off the students by giving them my universal vague answer: 'I'm fine and I don't remember anything from yesterday.' This answer bored my classmates enough to leave me alone and stick to their own version of what had happened.

Kyoko, from what I could tell, had so far stuck to the original story that I simply jumped out from the third floor window. And Chidori… she would just change the subject if anyone brought it up around her. I tried to talk to them before homeroom started with little success. Both girls were confused that I had no injuries when I first approached them but neither would say anything to me. Actually, scratch that, only Chidori didn't say anything. Kyoko, at least, managed to voice her position. "Just leave us alone," she told me.

I was about to give them my version of the ridiculous story but then decided against it. With the way they were now, there would be no getting through to them.

Classes went on normally. Well, a little more boring than normal actually. I pretty much daydreamed through the entire day which ended with a discussion on the upcoming class trip to Okinawa. Mentally, I note to myself that I'll have to ask if Yu Lan and Yu Fan were going on the same trip. And whether or not I was going depended on if Chidori was going too. I tried to ask her directly if she was going or not, but she still completely ignored me.

The rest of the day was as routine as it could get. I trailed Chidori home, typed up the day's reports for headquarters, ate dinner, performed quick maintenance on all of our equipment and spent some quality bonding time with the twins watching TV together. After a while, the twins said they had something to do and left me alone in the apartment.

The sound of a loud truck interrupted me from voicing my disgust towards the strange Japanese game show I was watching. Glancing out the window, I spot a moving van pulling up the apartment entrance.

Curious, I decided to watch. From what I could tell, there were three people moving in. One looked like a foreigner. He had long blonde hair and a bit of a playboy complexion to him. There was also a girl, attractive, probably in her early twenties. She had short black hair and wore a tight tank-top and jeans. Chinese, I guessed. The last person was clearly younger. He looked to be a teenager around my age. His hair was short and rough cut, and for some reason he wore what looked like a green military jumpsuit. Strange.

I was so bored that fifteen minutes passed before I realized that I was staring at them as they carried in various boxes and pieces of furniture. If they saw me, they probably would have thought I was some crazy stalker or something.

All of a sudden, there was a knock at the door. It sort of startled me.

"Calm down, Naruto. Probably just the new people," I told myself. I was right.

When I opened the door, I was greeted by the young, twenty-something, probably-Chinese girl that I had spotted before only she was even more gorgeous up close. Her black tank-top somehow looked more revealing than I first thought it was, distracting me a little from the fact that she also wore baggy military-style pants that. I knew I was probably staring at her a little too intensely but if she cared, she didn't show it.

"Hi," she said, waking me from my daze. Her Japanese was perfect. "We're moving next door into room 405 and just wanted to greet you. Please take care of us."

"Ah, welcome," I replied. "Ms…"

"Mao," she finished for me. "Melissa Mao. Please, feel free to call me Melissa."

"Nice to meet you, Melissa," I said. "I'm Naruto." She gave me an appraising look. I was waiting for it. It was the look that asked 'Naruto, like the stuff in ramen?' Why does everyone always have the same reaction to my name?

"And yes," I continued, "it's spelled exactly like the stuff in ramen." She grinned amusedly. "What about you? Mao? That's Chinese, right? Hmm… but Melissa is a common American name…"

She raised a single brow. "You're a pretty sharp kid, Naruto," she said. "I was born in America, actually. My parents were both Chinese-American."

"So what brings you here to Chōfu?"

"My job transferred me here. I work with electronics," she said. Just then, the blonde man appeared from behind her shoulder, offering his stupid-looking grin.

"Yo!" he said. Then he started speaking English. "_Where are the Japanese pretty girls?_"

"Kurz!" reprimanded Melissa. "Sorry, Naruto. He's a little drunk right now. His name is Kurz incase you didn't catch it."

"Boyfriend?" I asked.

She glared so hard I flinched. "Him? Boyfriend? In his dreams," she asserted. "We're coworkers. That's all."

"_No pretty girl?" _continued the drunk Kurz, almost whimpering.

"_Sorry, no pretty girl here,"_ I assured him in English.

He looked downtrodden after I told him and left, to his room I assumed. Melissa looked surprise that I could speak English at all. I gave her a sly look.

"Actually, I lied." I told Melissa, "I live here with two of my friends. They're twin girls."

She smiled, knowingly. "Then I'll be sure to keep Kurz away from them." I actually half-expected her to question if we had any adults in our household. But instead, she asked: "You're a high school student, right?"

I nodded, not sure what to make of the question.

"Do you attend Jindai High by any chance?"

"Freshman," I said after nodding again.

"Great," she proclaimed. "We actually have a third-roommate with us. He'll be transferring into Jindai High tomorrow. His name is Sousuke Sagara. I'll warn you that he's a little dense at times and a bit of a military otaku, but I hope you two can get along."

"Same here," I said.

"Well, I have to go help unpack," said Melissa. "It was nice meeting you."

"Nice meeting you too," I said back. "If you need anything, feel free to come to us."

"Thanks," she said, bowing slightly before getting back to her own room.

_Well, that went well_, I thought to myself. I figured that getting to know the neighbors would be a good thing. At the very least it would make us look more like the typical tenants we were portraying and less like the elite Amalgam operatives we actually were.

I started to flip the TV channel to yet another Japanese game show when there was another knocking at the door. Was it the neighbors again? They probably needed help moving something. So I got up, headed to the door and opened it.

There, smiling at me, was none other than Gauron.

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Chōfu – A city located in the Tokyo Prefecture. Chōfu is where all the school stuff in Full Metal Panic takes place in case you didn't know.


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